Sermon Tone Analysis

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The fool says in his heart, "God does not exist."

Psalm 14:1, HCSB

The idea of a living, personal God gives men and women the jitters.

They sense deep within that they are accountable to Him, but they don't know just what to do about it.

C. S. Lewis put it like this: "The Pantheist's God does nothing, demands nothing.

He is there if you wish for Him, like a book on a shelf.

He will not pursue you.

There is no danger that at any time heaven and earth should feel awe at His glance.

But Christ the Creator King is there.

And His intervening presence is terribly startling to discover."

Lewis goes on to compare the shock of discovering that there is a living, personal God in the universe to sitting alone in the dark and sensing someone breathing beside you.

"It is always shocking," he says, "to meet life where we thought we were alone."

Listen to this paragraph by Lewis which I quote in full, as it puts the truth in a way that cannot be equaled: "There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly; was that a real footstep in the hall?

There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion suddenly draw back.

Supposing we really found Him!

We never meant it to come to that!

Worse still, supposing He has found us?

So it is a sort of Rubicon.

One goes across, or not.

But if one does, there is no manner of security against miracles.

One may be in for anything."

\\ \\ No one need worry about getting any shocks when they steadfastly resist believing in a personal God.

No shocks, but no salvation either

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Source: Lifeway Devotional, January 24, 2013